1) Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates generally to decorative laminates and methods of making the same, and more particularly, to nonwoven decorative laminates and methods of making the same, where the nonwoven decorative laminates are used on structural components, such as aircraft interior structural components.
2) Description of Related Art
Decorative laminates are used in a wide variety of applications, including for surfaces of walls, countertops, and other structures, such as interior structural components of aircraft. For example, decorative laminates may be applied to the surfaces of such aircraft interior structural components as cabin interior sidewall and ceiling panels, floor panels, stowage bins, lavatory and galley panels and structures, bulkhead partitions, and other aircraft interior structural components.
Decorative laminates typically include a substrate or supporting layer which may be embossable to provide the decorative laminate with texture, a decorative layer that overlies the substrate layer, and a protective layer that overlies the decorative layer. Other layers may be included between the substrate, decorative and protective layers in specific decorative laminates, depending upon the nature of the materials used and the desired laminate characteristics. The decorative layer may be printed with various patterns and colors to provide a decorative effect to the decorative laminate.
Decorative laminates may be manufactured by printing, embossing, molding, and/or laminating the layers of the decorative laminate using a high temperature and pressure lamination and embossing forming process. The formed decorative laminate may then be bonded to a surface of an aircraft interior structural component via adhesive or another bonding agent.
One known decorative laminate and method of manufacturing the decorative laminate includes using a substrate layer of polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) films with an adhesive-based embossing resin bonding to various layers. However, such substrate layer films used in this known decorative laminate and method are biaxially oriented (i.e., the film is stretched in two different directions) and may distort or shrink when exposed to elevated processing temperatures. This may result in wrinkling of the decorative laminate, and in turn, rejection of the decorative laminate during production based on quality requirements.
Moreover, such substrate layer films used in this known decorative laminate and method may be difficult to print on and may be manufactured via batch production (i.e., processing items in groups or batches, where a specific process for each item takes place at the same time on a batch of items, and that batch does not move to the next stage of production or inspection until the entire batch is completed). Batch processing of decorative laminates may be time-consuming and highly variable, and may result in increased manufacturing and labor costs and quality inconsistencies.
Further, such substrate layer films used in this known decorative laminate and method may have a decreased number of surface interfaces for light to pass through, which, in turn, may result in a decreased opacity of the decorative laminate. Decreased opacity may allow the underlying aircraft interior structural component to be viewed. This may be undesirable as the underlying aircraft interior structural component may be unattractive or otherwise unappealing to view.
Another known decorative laminate and method of manufacturing the decorative laminate includes using a substrate layer of woven fiber material with an embossable layer and a protective layer. However, such woven fiber substrate layer used in this known decorative laminate may have a repeating pattern. When such repeating pattern is combined with a print design or decorative design on the embossable layer or the protective layer laid above the woven fiber substrate layer, the repeating pattern and the print or decorative design may create a superimposed pattern that affects the overall appearance of the decorative laminate. This may result in rejection of the decorative laminate during production based on appearance or aesthetic requirements.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved decorative laminate and method of making the same that provide advantages over known decorative laminates and methods.